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Journal of Asia Pacific Studies ( 2010) Vol 1, No 2, 132-148
A Historical Approach to Myanmar’s
Democratic Process
Mohamad Faisol Keling, Universiti Utara Malaysia (Kedah, Malaysia)
Assoc. Prof Lt. Col Dr. Mohamad Nasir Saludin, National Defense
University of Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
Otto F. von Feigenblatt, Nova Southeastern University (Fort Lauderdale,
Florida)
Mohd Na’eim Ajis, Universiti Utara Malaysia (Kedah, Malaysia)
Md. Shukri Shuib, Universiti Utara Malaysia (Kedah, Malaysia)
Abstract: Myanmar or ‘Burma’ is a country which has a long history of
colonialism by foreign powers. Before Myanmar achieved its
independence in 1948, it was ruled by two prominent foreign powers that
are Britain and Japan. Both countries had created the political scene of
Myanmar. After achieving independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar
became an independent country that practiced the democracy ideology
under the ruled of General Aung Sann. However, its democracy system
faced problems when a coup d’état happened in 1962. Since that year, the
efforts to regain the democracy system in Myanmar faced a lot of
obstacles. Thus, this paper will explain the process of democracy
development since 1948 until the present days of Myanmar.
Keywords: Myanmar, Burma, Democracy, Historical Approach
1.0 Introduction
From a geographical point of view, Myanmar is a country in
Southeast Asia bordering with India and Bangladesh in the
Northwest, China in the Northeast, Laos and Thailand in the
East and Straits of Bengal and Andaman's Southeast Asia in
the West. Myanmar falls into three main parts, East, West
and central region. On the East part, it separate Myanmar
from Thailand, Laos and China. This region includes the
coast of Tenasserim, Andaman Southeast Asia, bordering
peninsular Shan to the North part of Myanmar (Sunil Kumar
Pokhrel, 2008:1). Myanmar is one of the British colonies and
was invade by Japan in 1942 until 1945. The invasion of
Japan (1942 1945) in Myanmar had opened the awareness
level of the nationalism and independence in Myanmar. The
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